


Bearing Witness

by Knights13



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Possibly Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 10:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5739973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knights13/pseuds/Knights13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the passing of their Aunt Deb, Mary needs some extra support, and Steve tries to stay strong.  Danny is there for both of them.</p>
<p>Episode Tag to Season 6, Episode 12 - "Ua ola loko i ke aloha"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bearing Witness

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING:** Spoilers Within
> 
> Special Thanks to bookworm84 for the beta. Any remaining errors are completely my own.

“I mean, I know she was sick and that it was going to happen eventually but…” Mary put the tissue in her hand up to her face. She wasn’t going to start crying again. She wasn’t!

Danny stepped in and wrapped his arms around her, holding her gently until she was able to gain her composure once more. “From the way I understand it, she lived her life to the fullest right up to the end and then died with family close. You can’t ask for more than that.”

“Thank you, Danny. And please thank Grace for me. It was very kind of her to volunteer to watch Joanie through all this.”

“I'm sure they are both having a great time.”

Mary looked over to Steve, watching him talk to other guests at the wake. He was far from animated or jovial, but she hadn’t seen him cry or break down. “I don’t know how he does it.”

Danny followed her gaze to Steve and frowned. “Does what?”

“Bottles it all in and compartmentalizes it away.”

“Everyone grieves in their own way. Steve… Well he seems to internalize...”

“But this was Aunt Deb. He was there with her when she died. How can he…” Mary couldn’t go on. “I’m sorry, Danny, excuse me a minute. I need to…”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Danny said distractedly as Mary quickly parted company. 

After she was gone, he remained watching Steve. Steve hadn’t told them he was present for her actual passing. His best friend had suffered so much loss and while he’d finally gotten to the point where he could admit he was at least hurting, Danny had rarely seen him take the time to properly mourn. Mary was right Steve bottled things up and compartmentalized things away. Danny wondered how long he could continue to do that for.

* * *

The wake had come to a close but close friends and family had congregated back to the McGarrett household. Lou had fired up the barbeque and food and drinks were shared as were stories of Aunt Deb and the wonderful life she’d lived.

Mary broke down a few more times but there was always someone nearby to hold her. At some point Danny had seen Mary and Steve go into the house together and a short time later Steve had come back out again on his own. He’d offered Mary’s thank yous and good nights to everyone, reporting she’d finally fallen asleep.

Danny watched Steve carefully. He could see how tired Steve was. Since Aunt Deb passed Steve had thrown himself into taking care of the arrangements while still keeping involved with their active cases. Danny wondered when the last time he’d slept had been. Under the tired, Steve seemed numb. Going through the motions of good host and grieving nephew but having distanced himself from the proceedings.

Looking over their ohana, Danny’s eyes met Chin’s. In a single look they had a full conversation and a moment later Chin was standing. “Well, I think it’s time we called it a night. It’s been a long day for everyone.”

With so many hands it didn’t take long to clean things up and the good night’s happened quick. Nicky was the last to leave, save Danny.

“I’m really very sorry,” Nicky said with a handshake at the door. “If you need anything, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to ask. I promised your Aunt I’d keep an eye on you.”

It wasn’t a smile but the corner of Steve’s mouth turned upwards. “Thank you, Nicky, I appreciate that.”

“Don’t make me welch on my promise!”

Steve nodded. “I won’t”

Nicky gave Steve an evaluative look and then nodded, satisfied. Without another word he was on his way.

Closing the door, Steve turned to Danny. “Hey man, thanks for coming, and for… Well everything.”

“Of course! Always. I was gonna stick around for a while longer, unless you want to head to bed. You look like shit.”

Steve chuckled, “Thanks for sugar coating it for me, but no, I’m not…”

Danny clapped Steve on the bicep when his voice faded off. “It’s alright, you’re excused. Just this once.”

There was a weak smile and although it wasn’t much, Danny was happy to see it. “I appreciate your generosity.” Steve joked, but then leaned against the back of the arm chair. “I can’t believe she’s gone, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Danny was quiet a moment then added, “How are you holding up?”

Steve shrugged. “I’m okay, worried about Mary mostly. Aunt Deb pretty much raised her. She was there for her when I couldn’t be…”

“Is she going to stay with you for a while now?”

“She’s got a couple of weeks leave from work.”

Danny realized that wasn’t really an answer but he translated it into the likelihood that Steve didn’t know, and didn’t expect she’d be there the whole time. Mary and Joanie would leave and he’d be alone in this big house again.

It seemed like a good segway, “You didn’t tell me you were there when she died.”

Steve remained quiet and Danny let the silence rest between them for a couple of minutes before he probed again.

“That couldn’t have been easy…”

Steve shrugged. “I’m glad I was there for her. She didn’t pass alone, you know?”

This time Danny held his tongue, hoping that Steve would say more. He wasn’t disappointed, after a moment he did.

“I went up to the room to get her, Mary was burning the pancakes. When I got there and she didn’t answer I thought…” Steve’s voice cracked and he sniffed. “But when I went around the bed, her eyes opened…” This time his voice just faded. Danny gave him a moment, Steve swallowed as he struggled to contain his emotions. “She waved at me… Like she was waving good-bye and… And then she was gone.”

The emotion came then. Danny stepped forward and wrapped him into a tight hug. He didn’t say anything, there was nothing to say. It took Steve a few seconds, but he returned the hug and allowed his emotions to be voiced instead of holding them back.

Danny had no idea how long they stood there in each other’s arms. It didn’t matter. Danny was here for him now, just as he’d be when Mary and Joanie went home, and in an unlimited number of days, weeks, months and years beyond then. That was just how they worked. They may squabble, bicker, tease and argue. Sometime their comments might have more of sting than others but when pushed came to shove, they were always there for each other. As far as Danny was concerned that was all that mattered. And they could both count on that.


End file.
